Electronic mail has become an important communications medium that few can do without. Today's global business climate requires users to contact each other across continents and time zones, to conduct business transactions, and to share information. Email allows users to send or receive communications anytime, day or night, whether or not the recipient is immediately available. The recipient simply checks their email when it becomes convenient.
Internet email is addressed with industry standard syntax that specifies the user name separated by the ‘@’ sign, followed by the domain name of the user's email provider or email server. The general form is user@domain. The domain portion of an e-mail address is specified by the Internet Service Providers (ISP), which can be employers, governments or private telecommunication providers that sell Internet services to individuals and organizations. One problem that arises from implementing this email address format is that the user's email address will change if the email account is hosted by another provider.
It is common for e-mail users to switch ISPs because of changes in affiliation or changes in the marketplace. When an e-mail user switches ISPs, the old ISP usually deletes the user's e-mail address and e-mail account. In addition, the new ISP creates a new e-mail address and account for the user. The old and new e-mail addresses have to be different because the two ISPs control different Internet domains and the names of these domains are used in e-mail addresses that they manage.
Various attempts have been made to mitigate the effects of changes to user identities on existing networks. For example, pending U.S. Patent Application No. 20040249911A1 describes the construction of virtual networks for computing devices attached to public and private networks. Such virtual networks are directed to allowing computing devices, regardless of their physical location, to be joined together in a private intranet and to communicate with each other. However, such systems fail to address problems which arise in a dynamic environment where service providers and email servers are subject to change. In such instances, it is desired that email addresses remain constant even if the provider or email server changes.